Gerta Lily Potter
by Ginevra Magdalene Katnis Eaton
Summary: What if Harry had a younger sister when he was going through everything he did before, during and after Hogwarts?


**These first few chapters are going to be very similar to the books because Gerta's with Harry all the time meaning there isn't much scope for addition but I will start doing more of my own stuff later. I do not own Harry Potter. This is just something I wrote for fun to try and get myself back into the mind frame of writing (since I've had no desire to do so) but tell me if this is perhaps something you'd like to see continued.**

Her brother often described her as the bringer of spring; she could suffer winter and melt the anger, the ice, around his heart. She would find him regardless of where he'd gone or who'd taken him.

Gerta rolled over groaning lightly as she opened her eyes to the light streaming in through the window. Her brother was already getting out of bed, his scruffy raven black hair even messier than usual (it stuck up in every direction and refused to lie flat) but Gerta had a feeling her hair was going to be like his normally instead of the satin waves it usually fell in. She looked around the room for the source of their awakening.

"Are you up yet?" their aunts voice screeched through the bedroom door giving no illusions and quickly answering Gerta's inner thoughts.

Both of the children cringed at the pitch of her voice which was swiftly followed by a loud banging as the wooden door vibrated slightly.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," her brother replied quickly, opening the door slightly so she could see his lanky ten year old frame standing in it.

Apparently, her brother being up wasn't good enough because her aunt glowered over his head toward Gerta, who quickly threw her legs over the edge of the bed and pushed herself to her feet, stretching her arms above her head.

"Hurry up and get dressed,'' Aunt Petunia snapped. "I want everything to be perfect for Duddy's birthday."

Gerta resisted the urge to moan loudly but as soon as their aunt's footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs, her brother did.

"Dudley's birthday," Harry stated heavily glancing over at her. "How could we have forgotten?"

Gerta grinned him knowing exactly how he felt before disappearing into the bathroom to brush her teeth, knowing if they didn't move quickly their Aunt Petunia wouldn't let them have any of the breakfast they would cook.

Once she was in there, she stared at her sleepy hazel eyes critically in the mirror. She saw nothing offensive in her appearance, nothing particularly beautiful either but nothing glaringly hideous: her nine year old heart-shaped face – that had a chin which was slightly pointed - was still a little chubby from baby fat; her hazel eyes were large (Harry often like to say she always looked like a deer in headlights) with flecks of the same pure emerald green colour of Harry's eyes near the centre. They were surrounded by long, light eyelashes, naturally curled. Her dark red hair was thick and fell in light waves down to her waist, her nose was small, her lips cupid-bow, her cheeks naturally pink, her eyebrows delicate, finely arched, and her complexion a pale ivory. She saw no reason that her aunt, uncle and cousin liked to call her a 'troll' or 'dead-ugly' but then she saw no truth in it when her brother smiled kindly and told her that they were 'stupid' and 'obviously don't know complete beauty when they see it'.

Sighing heavily, she tied the front two sections of her hair in plaits and pulled them back into a ponytail with the rest of her hair after brushing it through, before splashing her face with water and brushing her teeth. She did this all very quickly, knowing that, if she didn't, Harry wouldn't have a chance to clean up before their uncle and cousin took over the bathroom.

Harry was just pulling on a shirt when she returned to the room she knew they only had because their guardians couldn't fit both of them in the cupboard under the stairs anymore like they used to.

He sent her the comforting, brotherly smile that she was so used to as she walked in and a feeling of safety washed over her. Harry would never let any harm come to her if he could help it and his presence made any uneasy feelings completely disappear. He was two years older than her and would always take the blame for things she did or sneak down the stairs in the middle of the night just to get food for her when they had been denied it – sometimes she felt he wouldn't make such an effort to get food if it had just been him in this house and he didn't have her to look after. She knew he felt he owed to their parents to take care of her but she also knew he did it because he loved her because, if he would let her, she would do the same for him in a heartbeat.

Apparently, Gerta and Harry's parents were killed in a car accident when Gerta was barely a year old. Two year old Harry had been with them which was how he had the lightning bolt scar on his forehead just above his right eye while she had been at the babysitters house and therefore unharmed. The two children had been sent to the Dursely family, who were their only living relatives, their Aunt Petunia was their mother's sister.

Sometimes, Harry told her, when he strained his memory at night he could remember a blinding flash of brilliant but terrifying green, the same colour as his eyes, and a burning pain on his forehead. This, they assumed, was the car crash but neither of them could understand where the light came from.

Neither Gerta nor Harry could remember their parents at all. However, Gerta got the vague suspicion that Harry had been happier before and, therefore came to the conclusion that, the car crash had taken her parents life and bits of her brother's joy, all in one night.

While Gerta had been drifting in her thoughts, Harry had left for the bathroom so she could get dressed alone, which she did, quickly pulling a loose dress over her head. Their aunt and uncle never brought Harry clothes, giving him things that were too small for their son Dudley, but with Gerta they had no choice, knowing people would begin to question why she was wearing boy's clothes that were far too big for her. However, all her clothes were from charity shops, car boot sales or similar places where they could pick things up really cheap so half of them didn't fit her. There were some ,however, in fact the majority of her clothes where from the attic leaving her to wonder if they belonged to her aunt or mother, these were still a little big because of her unnaturally skinny frame.

Their cousin, Dudley, was far worse. Whilst their aunt and uncle may not buy them new clothes, they always gave them the necessities (with the exception of food which was sometimes taken away as a punishment) – Harry's glasses were a good example of this. Dudley, however, loved to beat people up especially his two younger cousins. Harry usually made Gerta hide before making Dudley come after him but Gerta would laugh about how rare it was for him to catch her brother. Harry didn't look it but he was very fast.

Of course, with both of them being far skinnier than Dudley (probably unnaturally skinny from all the lack of food) they could fit into places he would never and move a lot fast – Dudley kind of waddled when he walked, kind of like a duck, Gerta would often muse as she pictured a ducks body and legs with her cousins head placed on top. Although, Harry preferred to say that Dudley Dursley looked more like a pig in a wig than a duck and, with his pink face, little neck and small water blues eyes along with the thick blonde hair that sat smoothly on his fat head, Gerta had to agree that her cousin really did even if her aunt thought he looked like a baby angel.

"Harry Potter!" Gerta heard her aunt scream up the stairs. "Get down here this instant! Girl! Start the cooking!"

This was how they were referred to in this house either by their forename and surname or just by their gender, the latter being the most common.

A few seconds later, Gerta could hear Harry hurrying down the stairs and, once she'd done her dress up, she quickly followed suit. Skidding to a stop in the kitchen, to see Harry already pilling Dudley's presents on the kitchen table, stumbling slightly under the weight, and Aunt Petunia cooking bacon and eggs at the cooker, a job which Gerta took over with a sharp command from her aunt.

"Don't let it burn," she snapped, giving Gerta a little tap on the head which the back of her hand.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," Gerta replied obediently and knew Harry's eyes were glaring dangerously over at their aunt, as though daring her to touch his sister again.

Harry plated everything up for her while she poured the family drinks and then the two of them tried to squeeze everything onto the table, which was difficult since Dudley's presents almost took up the whole table.

Just at that moment their uncle Vernon entered, he didn't acknowledge the two Potter's but sat down and picked up if newspaper.

"Comb your hair!" he snapped over at Harry and, with his back to their uncle, Gerta saw Harry pull a face; it made no difference if Harry combed his hair, it was still as messy as ever.

She actually tried not to laugh at this fact - Harry had had so many haircuts over the years that it was a miracle that he had any left at all but his hair always seemed to grow back like magic but hers was the same. One time, Gerta remembered, when her aunt had chopped her hair to around her jaw line so she didn't have to spend so much time brushing it but the next day Gerta's hair was back at the length it had been, hence why her hair was down to her waist. She could also remember an incident quite similar with Harry. Their aunt had been furious.

She was handing Uncle Vernon his coffee by the time Dudley wobbled into the kitchen and, without even saying good morning, began counting his presents. She and Harry sat down as Dudley's face fell and morphed into an angry look.

"Thirty-six," he said and the two Potter's glanced at each other while Dudley turned to look up at his parents. "That's two less that last year"

"Darling," Aunt Petunia tried to placate him, "you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under the big one from Mummy and Daddy."

Gerta caught Harry rolling his eyes as Dudley's face started going red and began wolfing down food.

"All right, thirty-seven then," she heard her cousin say and began to follow her brother's example; Dudley was clearly getting angry and she wasn't about to miss breakfast if he turned the table over.

Apparently, she and Harry weren't the only ones worried about Dudley having a tantrum and their aunt placed a hand on Dudley's arm and spoke quickly.

"And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out todays? How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"

Dudley seemed to think for a second and Gerta could tell her brother was thinking a snarky comment, probably something along the lines of how much hard work it seemed to be for him to use his brain.

"So I'll have thirty … thirty …"

Gerta almost snorted: even she could do that and she was two years younger than her cousin.

"Thirty-nine," she muttered under her breathe but, from the widening of Harry's emerald eyes, she knew she had spoken to loudly. They both froze.

"Thirty-nine, sweetums," the aunt told her son and both Potter children relaxed. If their aunt and uncle had heard, Gerta would have been yelled at for trying to up show Dudley and then be sent away from the table to do some chores.

Know that they danger had passed, Gerta noticed Harry wink at her and she smiled at him. He was the only one interested in how she didn't at school and, though he could give her nothing for her achievements, he tried to make a big deal of time since their aunt and uncle never cared. In fact, the last time Harry had beaten Dudley on a test, they yelled at him and he made his grades go down for a while. Now they were at average level but if he got higher the Dudley he made sure to lie - that was, if the their guardians ever bothered to ask.

"Oh," Dudley had sat down in his chair causing it to creak slightly and reached for the nearest present to him. "All right then.'

Uncle Vernon chuckled and Gerta wondered what miss-sighted statement he was going to make now.

"Little" - Gerta could have sworn Harry coughed - "tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father," Uncle Vernon was still chuckling reaching over to ruffle Dudley's hair affectionately. "Atta boy, Dudley!"

Before anything else could be said, the telephone began ringing noisily and Aunt Petunia left the kitchen to get it. Dudley continued opening his presents during his mother's absence while Gerta and Harry sat in silence, knowing if the spoke while the attention was meant to be all on Dudley would mean trouble. Gerta barely remembered what he got, forgetting it as soon as he put it aside to open another one but she remembered the sheer amount of things that he would never use - a racing bike for example. Dudley hated exercise.

The thought of presents and birthdays made her remember it was around a week till Harry's eleventh birthday, not that he would get anything. She would love to get him a present but neither her aunt nor uncle would ever let her. It was so unfair but she and Harry were long over it having never received anything but stupid old things for previous birthdays.

Heels were clicking on the floor announcing her aunt's arrival back in the kitchen.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said looking angry and worried and the whole table but Dudley looked around at her. "Mrs Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them.,"

She jerked her head at Gerta and Harry, and her words caused Dudley to look up to his presents - a gold wrist watch - and his mouth dropped open but the Potter's exchanged an excited look. Neither of them looked forward to going to Mrs Figg who had hundreds of cats that she liked to show them pictures off her old and present cats. She lived two streets away and her small house smelled of cabbage. The Potters were sent to her every time the Dursley's wanted to go someone or meet someone that they 'didn't want ruined'. The idea of not going there almost made Gerta happy Mrs Figg had broken her leg, although she felt bad for thinking it

"Now what?" she asked, glaring at the two of them as though had somehow made this happen.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon put in and Gerta shuddered slightly.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them," Aunt Petunia snapped and Gerta almost felt the need to assure them that the feeling was mutual though she was sure that the Dursleys wouldn't take well to this being said since Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister who she and Harry had been forced to call 'Aunt' though she was, thank god, no blood relation to them.

"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"

"On holiday in Majorca."

Gerta could see this was going to go on for a while so she slumped slightly in her chair but as she did so Harry opened his mouth and she tensed.

"You could just leave us here," he suggested hopefully and Gerta tried not to get her own hopes up as she imagined a Dursley free, Mrs Figg free, day but then Harry's ideas never really went to plan; the Dursleys squashed this idea instantly as Aunt Petunia looked like she had swallowed a lemon.

"And come back to find the house in ruins," Gerta rolled her eyes subtly: they weren't going to destroy the house.

"We won't blow up the house," Harry protested but they were no longer listening, Gerta shrugged at him helplessly.

"I suppose,' Aunt Petunia began to suggest slowly, 'we could take them to the zoo … and leave them in the car …"

"That car's new," Uncle Vernon disagree angrily, "they're not sitting in it alone ..."

Trust Vernon to be worried about the car, Gerta snorted in her head wondering if anyone would ever care about her and Harry when it wasn't part of their job. Gerta was jerked out of her thoughts as Dudley began to fake cry and resisted the urge to shot him a glare - his mother would give him anything if he "cried" and he knew it.

"Dinky Diddykins, don't cry," Aunt Petunia practically cried, throwing her long, thin arms around her massive son "Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!"

Dudley shot them an evil grin and Harry glared at him.

"I … don't … want … them … t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled, pretending to breathe heavily around his tears. "They always sp-spoil everything!"

At that moment the doorbell rang piercingly and after exclaiming 'Oh, Good Lord, they're here!' Aunt Petunia rushed out the kitchen. It was only a few minutes before Dudley's best Piers Polkiss, a boy Harry took great pride in describing as a rat both personality and appearance-wise, entered with his mother. Gerta knew him mainly because he was the one who helped Dudley beat people up (by holding their arms behind their backs) and because the two of them loved to try and catch Harry. Dudley's fake crying stop immediately and in her head Gerta snorted, sharing an amused glance with Harry, though it was laced with a small amount of dread due to Piers' appearance.

Gerta was surprised when half and hour later she and Harry were sat in the back of the car going to the zoo on what she was sure was their first time ever because their aunt and uncle couldn't think of anything else to do with them. Gerta would actually probably prefer to stay at home with Harry because their was less chance of Piers or Dudley getting them in trouble as they liked to do but she wasn't going to complain. Of course, this "treat" hadn't come without a warning.

"I'm warning you two," Uncle Vernon had said, putting his face far too close to theirs, "I'm warning you know - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that bedroom from now until Christmas."

"We're not going to do anything," Harry mistakenly spoke. "Honestly …"

Gerta wasn't surprised that Uncle Vernon didn't seem to believe him: no body ever believed them because they were the strange Potter kids, who could make strange things happen without meaning to when they were angry of upset and the result was usually on someone that had been the cause of the anger.

The drive was long one with Uncle Vernon complaining the whole way - he loved to complain, though his topics were usually limited. On this drive though, it was motorbikes because one had speed past him and he had to slam to breaks on to avoid hitting it. Gerta wasn't whether it was the motorbikes fault or whether Uncle Vernon just hadn't been paying enough attention.

"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he complained as another zoomed passed them.

"I had a dream about a motorbike," Harry said and Gerta groaned silently, elbowing him in the ribs: sometimes it was like she was the eldest. "It was flying."

Uncle Vernon swung around to look at him and Gerta the car in front got dangerously close but she wasn't surprised. If what the Dursleys hated most in the world was them asking questions about anything then talking about things acting in ways the shouldn't topped even that and it didn't matter where these ideas came from.

When they arrived at the zoo it was crowded as would be expected on unusually sunny Saturday. Families swarmed around the car park, some had picnic baskets, some had chairs, Gerta could see parents lathering their kids with sun cream and others forcing hats onto the heads only for the younger children to throw the off. She laughed lightly as she watched a man chase his daughters hat a few paces before obeying Uncle Vernon's command to get out of the car.

At the entrance, the Dursley's bought Dudley and Piers chocolate ice creams that were bigger than Gerta had seen before and then, so they wouldn't seem like the didn't care about Harry and Gerta, bought them cheap lemon lollies that weren't actually too bad.

They started at the Gorilla exhibit and watch one scratch it's head, looking extremely confused.

"Looks like Dudley," Harry muttered to her under his breath, too low for the Dursley's to hear, "expect it's not blond."]

"Harry," Gerta scolded with a smile, "don't be rude to the Gorilla."

Harry sent her a beaming grin that suggested that he was proud of that comment and she resisted the urge to giggle.

The rest of the morning weren't by easily. Harry was careful to make sure they walked a little way away from the Dursley's in case Piers and Dudley got jaded by the animals and took it out on them. Lunch was eaten at the zoo restaurant and because Dudley wasn't happy with the size of his Knickerbocker Glory , he got another one and Gerta and Harry finished the first together.

Once Dudley had finished his second Knickerbocker Glory, they headed off the to reptile house. It was cool in there and dark and Gerta found in was a welcome reprieve from the heat outside. Along the walls with lit windows and behind them were all different types of snakes and lizards. Dudley and Piers, of course, wanted to see the biggest and the most dangerous and their cousin quickly found the largest as though he was drawn to it by so force. It was big enough to fit twice around Uncle Vernon's car and reduce it to dust but, at that particular moment, it was fast asleep.

Dudley pressed himself against the glass, his nose squashed against it, and stared as though entranced.

"Make it move," he ordered in a whiny voice to his father and Uncle Vernon knocked on the glass, though it had no affect on the snake. "Do it again" - Uncle Vernon did but still the snake did not move - "This is boring."

With that moaned, Dudley waddled away leaving Harry and Gerta alone. They moved closer and slowly the snake raised it's head to look straight at her brother. She watched as her brothers eyes widened and he looked over at her, taking in her worried expression. He looked back and Gerta saw him wink at the snake. The snake's head moved and then Harry spoke in a hissing voice. Gerta jumped back but he didn't seem to notice.

Whatever Harry had said the snake seemed to understand and Gerta saw it bob it's head vigorously. She watched the "conversation" that her brother was having with the snake with fear for a while longer before Piers' voice shattered the silence with a shout.

"DUDELY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came as fast as he could from Gerta's side and he shoved her out of the way. She stumbled, caught by surprise, her head hitting the concrete floor hard. She felt something went trickle down her forehead and was about to place her hand to it when Harry knelt in front on her, dapping it with his sleeve. His gaze, however, was mainly on Dudley sending him an evil glare.

Gerta looked to the side when Dudley and Piers yelled and they jumped back. She looked back at the tank and realised that the glass had gone and the giant reptile was uncoiling itself and quickly slivered out of the tank onto the ground causing people to shriek and head to the nearest exit. As the snake passed Dudley and Piers Gerta grinned as it snapped at their heels.

The keeper was beside himself and the zoo directed brought them into his office to apologise, brewed Aunt Petunia a cup of tea and gave Gerta a plaster for her head which she discovered had been bleeding badly. Dudley and Piers could barely speak but that didn't last long because, by the time they were all heading home in the car, he was telling his parents all about how it had tried to rip his leg off, though Gerta wasn't sure how he expected anyone to believe that when there was no blood, and Piers had decided it had tried to squeeze him to death. It got worse however and Gerta cringed as Piers said, 'Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?' - Gerta wasn't sure what had been going on with her brother and the snake but she was sure it a) scared her and b)wonder where he brother had learned to speak in such as hissing language, if that was even what he was doing. She knew though, or had decided by the time they got home, that perhaps she wouldn't tell Harry that he had spoken in another language until … well, she wasn't sure what the until was.

Once Piers had gone home Uncle Vernon finally got the chance to fall apart: he collapsed in a chair but not before telling the two of them to 'go- bedroom - stay - no meals.' Aunt Petunia had then rushed to get him a brandy as the two of them disappeared upstairs.

Gerta could tell her brother was confused as to what had happened as she was but was more content to brush it off as one of those unusual things that happened around them because strange things always did. Harry kept glancing at the clock as they passed the time playing random games they had invented over the years and eventually he snuck down to get food, returning with fruit and other things that the Dursley's would never notice missing. Gerta smiled sweetly over at him, knowing that, as strange as he was, she would never survive there alone.


End file.
